Chapter XXXIII: Letters.--Diary

At the beginning of the year 1851, Mr. Lawrence writes to President Hopkins:

"The closing of the old year was like our western horizon after
sunset, bright and beautiful; the opening of the new, radiant
with life, light, and hope, and crowned with such a costume of
love as few old fathers, grandfathers, and uncles, can muster; in
short, my old sleigh is the pet of the season, and rarely appears
without being well filled, outside and inside. It is a teacher to
the school-children, no less than to my grandchildren; for they
all understand that, if they are well-behaved, they can ride with
me when I make the signal; and I have a strong persuasion that
this attention to them, with a present of a book and a kind word
now and then, makes the little fellows think more of their
conduct and behavior. At any rate, it does me good to hear them
call out, 'How do you do, Mr. Lawrence?' as I am driving along
the streets and by-ways of the city." * * *

To an aged clergyman in the country, who was blind and in indigent circumstances, he writes:

"Jan. 14.

"Your letter of last week reached me on Saturday, and was indeed
a sunbeam, which quickened me to do what I had intended for a
'happy new-year,' before receiving yours. I trust you will have
received a parcel sent by railroad, on Monday, directed to you,
and containing such things as I deemed to be useful in your
family; and I shall be more than paid, if they add one tint to
the 'purple light' you speak of, that opens upon your further
hopes of visiting us the coming season. For many months I was
unable to walk; but my feet and ankle-bones have now received
strength. I feel that the prayers of friends have been answered
by my renewed power to do more work. How, then, can I enjoy life
better than by distributing the good things intrusted to me among
those who are comforted by receiving them? So you need not feel,
my friend, that you are any more obliged than I am. The enclosed
bank-bills may serve to fit up the materials for use; at any
rate, will not be out of place in your pocket. I trust to see you
again in this world, which has to me so many interesting
connecting links between the first and only time I have ever seen
you (thirty-five or more years ago, in Dr. Huntington's pulpit,
Old South Church) and the present."

(FROM REV. JAMES HAMILTON, D.D.)

"42 GOWER-STREET, LONDON, Feb. 15, 1851.

"MY DEAR SIR: No letter which authorship has brought to me ever
gave me such pleasure as I received from yours of July, 1849,
enclosing one which Governor Briggs had written to you. That
strangers so distinguished should take such interest in my
writings, and should express yourselves so kindly towards myself,
overwhelmed me with a pleasing surprise, and with thankfulness to
God who had given me such favor. I confess, too, it helped to
make me love more the country which has always been to me the
dearest next to my own. In conjunction with some much-prized
friendships which I have formed among your ministers, it would
almost tempt me to cross the Atlantic. But I am so bad a sailor
that I fear I must postpone personal intercourse with those
American friends who do not come to England, until we reach the
land where there is no more sea. However feebly expressed, please
accept my heartfelt thanks for all the cost and trouble you have
incurred in circulating my publications. It is pleasant to me to
think that your motive in distributing them, in the first
instance, could not be friendship for the author; and to both of
us it will be the most welcome result, if they promote the cause
of practical Christianity. Owing to weakness in the throat and
chest, I cannot preach so much as many of my neighbors, and
therefore I feel the more anxious that my tracts should do
something for the honor of the Saviour and the welfare of
mankind. You were kind enough to reprint my last lecture to young
men. I could scarcely wish the same distinction bestowed on its
successor, because it is a fragment. I have some thoughts of
extending it into a short exposition of Ecclesiastes, which is a
book well suited to the times, and but little understood. * * *

"Yours, most truly,

JAMES HAMILTON."

Print. by R. Andrews.]

In reply to the above letter, Mr. Lawrence writes, April 8:

"I will not attempt to express to you in words my pleasure in
receiving your letter of Feb. 15, with its accompaniments. The
lecture delivered to the young men on the 4th of February,
although designated by you as a fragment, I sent to my friend,
with a copy of your letter, asking him whether he would advise
its publication, and whether he would scatter it with its
predecessor; and, if so, I would pay the expense. His answer you
have here, and I have the pleasure of saying that the 'Fragment'
will be ready to circulate by thousands the present week; and,
when you shall have added your further comments upon Solomon and
his works, our American Tract Society will be ready to publish
the whole by hundreds of thousands, I trust, thus enabling you to
preach through our whole country. The Memoir of Lady Colquhon is
a precious jewel, which I shall keep among my treasures to leave
my descendants. I had previously purchased a number of copies of
the American edition, and scattered them among my friends, so
that there is great interest to see your copy sent me. The part
of your letter which touched my heart most was that in which you
speak of my brother Abbott, and say of him that 'no foreign
minister is such a favorite with the British public.' It brought
him before me like a daguerreotype likeness, through every period
of his life for fifty years. First, as the guiding spirit of the
boys of our neighborhood, in breaking through the deep
snow-drifts which often blocked up the roads in winter; then as
my apprentice in the city; and, in a few years, as the young
military champion, to watch night and day, under arms, on the
point of Bunker Hill nearest the ocean, the movements of a
British fleet lying within four or five miles of him, and
threatening the storming of Boston; then, soon after, as
embarking in the very first ship for England, after the close of
the war, to purchase goods, which were received here in
eighty-three days after he sailed. Since that time, our firm has
never been changed, except by adding '& Co.,' when other partners
were admitted. He has been making his way to the people's respect
and affection from that time to this, and now fills the only
public station I would not have protested against his accepting,
feeling that _place_ cannot impart _grace_. My prayers ascend
continually for him, that he may do his work under the full
impression that he must give an account to Him whose eye is
constantly upon him, and whose 'Well done' will be infinitely
better than all things else. I believe he is awakening an
interest to learn more about this country; and the people will be
amazed to see what opportunities are here enjoyed for happiness
for the great mass. What we most fear is _that_ ignorance which
will bring everything down to its own level, instead of that true
knowledge, which shall level up the lowest places, now inundated
with foreign emigrants. Our duty is plain; and, if we do not
educate and elevate this class of our people they will change our
system of government within fifty years. Virtue and intelligence
are the basis of this government; and the duty of all good men is
to keep it pure. * * *

"And now, my friend, what can I say that will influence you to
come here, and enjoy with me the beautiful scenes upon and around
our Mount Zion?

"With the highest respect and affection, I am most truly yours,

"AMOS LAWRENCE.

"P. S.--Mrs. L. desires me to present to you and your lady her
most respectful regard, with the assurance that your writings are
very precious to her. She is a granddaughter to a clergyman of
your 'Kirk,' and enjoys much its best writings."

To the same gentleman he writes soon after:

"And now let me speak about the 'Royal Preacher.'[14] I expected
much, but not so much as I found in it. We, on this side the
Atlantic, thank you; and the pictures of some of our own great
men are drawn to the life, although their history and character
could not have been in your eye. Truth is the same now as in
Solomon's time; and it is surprising that the mass of men do not
see and acknowledge that 'the saint is greater than the sage,
and discipleship to Jesus the pinnacle of human dignity.' I have
had, this morning, two calls, from different sections of our
Union, for your 'Life in Earnest,' 'Literary Attractions of the
Bible,' 'Solomon,' 'Redeemed in Glory,' &c., which I responded to
with hearty good-will. Some of the books will go out of the
country many thousand miles, and will do good. I must shake hands
with you across the Atlantic, if you can't 'screw up' your
courage to come here, and bid you God-speed in all your broad
plans for the good of your fellow-men.

"I have a great respect for deep religious feelings, even when I
cannot see as my friends do; and therefore pray God to clear
away, in his good time, all that is now dark and veiled.

"It is time for me to say farewell."

[14] A tract by Dr. Hamilton.